School

So this post is really intended to help me.

I've been struggling with something lately. I've always had a hard time with school. I did well all the way through till I graduated high school but ever since school become an option for me, and not a requirement, I've had a very hard time staying focused. You're probably thinking, everyone has this struggle, why are you different? Well I started college at Valdosta State University in the fall of 2007. Why Valdosta? Because it was far away from Marietta. I made some great friends, and enjoyed my new freedom.

A little too much.

So after that first semester, I had to come home and live with my parents again. After a year I took a couple classes at Chattahoochee Technical College. Let me also mention that at both of these schools, I did well in some classes, and failed some classes. So overall, I didn't do great. I only stayed at Chatt Tech for a quarter. Then I moved downtown and started working in Buckhead. After another year I started at Kennesaw State University. I started with a new motivation, everyone I knew was on the track to graduate and I was falling behind. I was living on my own, working full time to pay my bills. But working as a server in a restaurant is not considered... success. (If you love waiting tables I see absolutely no problem with that, do what you love. It's just that we all know most people frown upon career servers, that's all I'm saying.)

I did well in my classes for the first month probably and then I started to lose focus again. I told myself my grades would be better in the Spring, no more excuses. Graduating college is what you do. You graduate high school, you go to college for four years, you graduate college. Getting a business degree would present me with all kinds of job opportunities. Corporate America, here I come! But wait, who said I want a job in corporate America? Since when does business interest me, when did I decide I'm that person?

I didn't.

You did. I'm not saying school isn't a great thing. It is. I know people who were MEANT for school. But it isn't right for everyone. Not every intelligent man or woman graduated college. Not every SUCCESSFUL man or woman graduated college. Everyone knows this, but there is still SO MUCH PRESSURE to graduate college! In your defense, it usually happens on accident. When someone is 18-22 years old you ask them if they are in school. Because in privileged America, the majority of those people are in school. I understand that. The problem is that because it is just EXPECTED of us, a lot of students are spending money on an education for the wrong reason. Because they think that is their only option. Fortunately for a lot of students, they are studying the subject that they are passionate about. They grew up knowing they wanted to be just like their favorite teacher, they discovered in high school science that they were fascinated with the human body, or they idea of success in corporate America is thrilling. That's not me. The things that I am passionate about, or are exciting to me, don't have to include school.

I didn't mean to ramble on so much about this, but I'm just really frustrated about how much pressure this has been on me, and I'm really excited to finally reach this decision.

For now, I'm not going to take any classes. I don't want to continue forcing myself to do something I hate while paying an absurd amount of money to do so. I need to figure out what I want. I am creative, I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I am a leader, and I love the idea of a SMALL business. I'm not sure what this means yet for my career or my future, but I need to figure that out.

So I dropped my classes for the summer. I am going to try to blog all summer to help me focus, since I will have that extra time that would be spent on school. I want to start exploring the things that I enjoy, working with people who have the same interests, and hopefully figuring out a path that is right for me. I wrote this so that some of you can hopefully see where I am coming from, and support me in my decision. I know that I am a smart, talented, creative woman with so many opportunities. And I'm ready to start finding them.

Oh, and who wants to help me open an Etsy jewelry shop? :)

(check out this shop)